Giants sign 3rd Round pick Kyle Harrison to Huge Bonus

According to a report from Marc Delucchi, the Giants have agreed to signing bonus of “around” $2.5 million, pending a physical.

The #SFGiants and their 3rd round pick, De La Salle HS (CA) LHP Kyle Harrison, agreed to a signing bonus around $2,500,000 ($710,700 slot) pending a physical, per industry source.

I'm told Harrison is a Boras advisee and it took a big number to forego @UCLABaseball commitment.

— Marc Delucchi (@maddelucchi) June 15, 2020

This amount is eye-opening.  Where Harrison was picked in the third round, the slot value for a pick is $710,700.  A number of $2.5 million would be around a 27th or 28th overall pick.

For 2020, the Giants have a pool of $9,231,800.  The bonus pool is determined by the slot values of each pick the Giants have in the draft.  While each pick has a slot value, the teams are free to spend the pool on whatever picks they want.  This is why some teams go “underslot” early, drafting players they can sign for less, to save money for an overslot pick later if such a player has slid.

The individual slot values for the Giants picks were:

(Round-overall pick number)

#1-13: $4,197,300
#2-49: $1.507,600
#2s-67: $976,700
#2s-68: $953,100
#3-85: $710,700
#4-114: $507,400
#5-144: $379,000

The Giants had notably drafted a couple of players well above their rankings.  #68 overall Jimmy Glowenke ranked #171 in MLB, #197 in Fangraphs, and #110 in BA.  5th round pick Ryan Murphy was not ranked in any lists.  Some teams have been signing 5th round picks for significantly low values, even signing some Seniors down to the undrafted bonus limit of $20,000, but doing that with Murphy, who is a Junior and could go back to school, wouldn’t come close to being enough for the reported bonus to Harrison.

Second round pick Casey Schmitt was also taken somewhat above his draft rankings, being drafted at 49 but ranked at 117/87/76 by the MLB/FG/BA respectively.

For reference, Kyle Harrison was ranked 63/103/71 by the major publications, and was taken at 85.

However, if the Harrison report is true, it’s likely that first round pick Patrick Bailey is signing for considerably underslot.  Bailey was not drafted far from where the major scouting organizations had him ranked.  Bailey was ranked 17/12/14 by MLB/FG/BA respectively.

It’s clear that the Giants really liked Harrison, willing to pay him first round money to not go to UCLA, even negotiating with Harrison’s agent Scott Boras.  The team is making a major investment in him to help the pitching in the organization’s system.